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| Antonia Caretto, Ph.D., PLLC (248) 553-9053 |
A basic understanding of the theory and practice of behavior modification will greatly increase your chances of success with resolutions made on New Year’s Eve or attempts to change habits at any time of the year. Many of the principles of behavior therapy are based on learning theory. Habits, good or bad, can be learned or un-learned. There are two main types of conditioning that form the basis of all learned behavior. When any behavior is modified as a result of the consequences, positive or negative, this is the result of operant conditioning. The basic theory of this type of conditioning is logical and simple: rewards will increase the desired behavior, absence of reinforcement will slowly extinguish the behavior, and any punishment will decrease the behavior. This formula makes operant conditioning an ideal way to modify any behavior and have more success with New Year’s resolutions. In order to modify a behavior using operant conditioning, it is important to first identify precisely not only the target behavior, but also the reward & punishment. It is crucial that rewards & punishments be implemented consistently, and they should ideally be related to the goal behavior. Both accountability and support can be subtle types of reinforcement and verbal or written commitments can also provide some help with motivation. Rewards need not be monetary and may be even occur naturally—sometimes a sense of pride and praise from others is enough reinforcement. And, disappointment & shame are two natural consequences that can be punishing. All rewards should be frequent in order to learn the behavior and then can be less frequent in order to maintain the behavior. One’s ability to delay gratification must be considered when you are first establishing rewards. Also, the magnitude of the reward should closely correspond with the degree of behavior change. Rewards always work better than any punishments. A negative consequence should only be used when there is also the possibility of an equally significant positive consequence. The reward & punishment need not be of the same currency, just of the same magnitude. It’s always easier to add a behavior than it is to stop a behavior. Try to set a goal that involves doing something differently, rather than not doing something that has become a habit. You will have a greater chance of success. Changing habits and other behaviors can be hard but behavior change can be gradual. Though a long range goal may be difficult, each short term goal should be a little challenging but achievable. In a process known as shaping, small changes are reinforced and expectations are gradually increased: then behavior is only reinforced if it is a closer approximation of the ideal behavior. Failure at New Year’s resolutions is most often the result of poorly planned & poorly implemented behavior modification. Other factors which can impact success or failure with implementing a behavior change may include untreated psychological or medical conditions, addictions and strong familial or cultural expectations. Sometimes unconscious psychological conflicts can interfere with our thoughts and actions, and hence they become obstacles to success. A well formulated behavioral plan must address these issues as well in order to produce lasting changes.
character, it’s all in their head; it is the pre-frontal cortex that is engaged when exerting self control and this area of our brain can only handle so much. You see, the pre-frontal cortex is also called upon when we need to stay focused, solve abstract problems and engage short-term memory. Researchers have shown that individuals who are given a more challenging mental task use less self-restraint when later offered a tempting indulgence such as chocolate cake. The experimental tasks included having to remember long strings of numbers, having to complete a tedious task while trying not to think about a white elephant and even having to walk down a crowded city street -- tasks which stress brains at levels which are probably not in excess of what we each encounter on a daily basis. One of the more well known studies of self-control was the Marshmallow Test conducted by Walter Mischel in the 1960’s. Dr. Mischel found that those four year old kids who successfully delay gratification don’t necessarily have better self-control; they just use distraction to focus their attention on something else. He also found that the ability to wait to eat a Marshmallow at age four is correlated with higher SAT scores and lower BMI as adults. Roy Baumeister at FSU compared self-control in those who fasted and those who did not and in those who ingested Splenda and those who ingested sugar and confirmed that the pre-frontal cortex needs glucose as fuel. Skipping meals paradoxically makes it bio-chemically harder to resist temptations! The good news is that Dr. Baumeister found that practicing mental discipline in one arena can increase the ability to exert self-control in other situations. So in order to improve your chances of success with resolutions try to focus more on disciplining yourself in general and less on denying yourself what you desire. Also, have other things on which to focus in order to distract yourself. |
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